Thread: Do you soak Ch12K?

no, i do not soak my PHIG, just splash some water on and go.

utopian: i'd love to hear your thoughts on this.. what kind of "grit" range do you think the Peoples Hone occupies?

Originally Posted by ezpz

no, i do not soak my PHIG, just splash some water on and go.

utopian: i'd love to hear your thoughts on this.. what kind of "grit" range do you think the Peoples Hone occupies?

Hones that have a grit rating are synthetic, and the grit has been screened to a particular size range. The Chinese hone is a rock. It is heterogeneous. Your rock is different from either of my two rocks. Sure there may be some particles that are approximately 12k, but there are particles of other sizes as well. Other natural hones, such as coticules, thuringians, arkansas, Jnats, etc. don't have a grit rating for the same reason.

Can we call it a "Chinese hone of varying grit that approximates 12000 mesh on average"? CHVGA12KA for short...

Originally Posted by HNSB

Can we call it a "Chinese hone of varying grit that approximates 12000 mesh on average"? CHVGA12KA for short...

Sure, I can accept that!

Originally Posted by HNSB

Can we call it a "Chinese hone of varying grit that approximates 12000 mesh on average"? CHVGA12KA for short...

I tried to get People's Hone of Indeterminate Grit (PHIG) to catch on, but it's been hard to overthrow the C12k regime.

Back on topic - I never soaked mine. Whether it does or does not absorb water, the water I put on the surface of mine never disappeared fast enough for me to do anything but add a few drops. As Joe said, adding water with a small amount of soap in it will break the surface tension, which keeps the water more evenly distributed over the surface.

And while we're talking about the instructions on the box, I cannot imagine anyone ever needing to lap their PHIG with any regularity (unless you do thousands of razors on it or something like that).

There are several different types of PHIG's out there (ya happy Dylan ??? )
Mine absorbs water pretty well, so when I start honing and pull the Norton 1k out of the water to set bevels the PHIG goes in, that gives at it least 1/2 hour of soaking time... Seems to work fine that way, I always start on a natural stone with a light slurry and the soaking seems to aid in that aspect for me...

Wait a minute... your PHIG hone absorbs water? is this the one you mentioned to be of a finer grit? HAD KICKING IN!!!

I've used one of these precisely once so I'm no expert with them, but all I did was wet the surface and go to it and it worked fine.

I guess as with all naturals the key is to find out how to get the best out of yours..! So if it works better for being soaked then soak it.

Originally Posted by Memorael

Wait a minute... your PHIG hone absorbs water? is this the one you mentioned to be of a finer grit? HAD KICKING IN!!!

No No,,, I never said "Finer Grit" I said a good consistent finisher with good feedback...
I would suspect that the effective grit could change by moving a few feet down the mine shaft when they quarry these...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...nese-hone.html


But yes it absorbs water... S L O W L Y and it takes forever to dry after...

BTW that is the best test that I know of to see if your stone absorbs water... After you dry off the surface wrap it in a paper towel or two and see what happens over a few hours....

Mine dries PDQ. In fact, you can almost watch it dry out as you hone.